Public Relations Manager

Legal Services Attorney

University of Nonsensical Happenings

Similar to the situation of the fired RA, Joanne Stella, UNH's student attorney, said the only involvement with Facebookshe's encountered has to do with landlords discovering illegal behavior from tenants that threatened lease agreements.

"I advise people to be careful about what they put on there," said Stella.

DURHAM - Student leaders at the University of New Hampshire delivered a petition to the university system's board of trustees Wednesday expressing their support for UNH student lawyer Joanne Stella.

The petition comes just three months after the board made a policy change prohibiting the use of student fees to pay for the legal representation of a student involved in a criminal case.The board implemented the change in December and directed that it go into effect on July 1 this year.

Student leaders also presented the board with proposed amendments to the policy change.

Under the new policy implemented by the trustees, Stella would be allowed to represent students only in civil matters.

Stella receives a stipend from the student activity fee, a mandatory fee paid by all undergraduates.

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Student leaders at UNH were outraged at the policy change and in January began gathering signatures for the petition they presented to the trustees on Wednesday in support of Stella.

Members of the Student Senate obtained 2,042 signatures, according to Student Senate Speaker Jennifer Francque, adding that the Student Senate also received 11 letters from alumni in support of their effort.

Approximately 30 students gathered outside the New England Center on Wednesday, the site of the trustees meeting, to show their support for Stella.

Sophomore Jason Heany, public relations manager for the Student Senate, said he skipped his mid-term exam to attend the rally.

Heany said his professor supports his actions and allowed him to reschedule the test.

Lynch also said trustees fully support UNH and Durham police and took issue with an opinion piece written by Joanne Stella, the attorney for Student Legal Services at UNH, in which she blames police for recent outbursts.

"I think it is absolutely inexcusable to have a situation where our police feel threatened by our own students," Lynch said.

In the piece, published by the UNH student newspaper The New Hampshire, Stella wrote that police "make a spectacle of themselves every night" and that police in riot gear provoke riots.

Some student leaders have come out in support of Stella's piece and the attorney said recently that she has heard nothing but positive feedback from students on her comments.

But Lynch disagrees.

"I think she is undermining our efforts to send a clear message to the students that the behavior in question will not be tolerated in any circumstances and for whatever reason," Lynch said.